One Horse Towns

Life on TN

Sunday, October 8, 2017

The end of the mine job! When the guys at the top are in cahoots with a band of no-good, murderous mercs, what do you do? Murder them first with overwhelming firepower, obviously.

[Georges the GM reminds us of what we know as we start the session.]Georges the GM: “Fennec is coming at this from a different source than Lukas.”
Zac: “A less informed source.”

[Fennec has been asked to meet Cletus and Josiah McGrew at a rendezvous point in the woods. She asks Karima to set up an overwatch position.]Ariel: “I only have a pistol.”
Zac: “Do we not have a better gun?”
Julie: “I have a better gun – I’m just not there.”

[Fennec is taken to four Gears, which are ostensibly provided for mining purposes but in actuality could be made combat-ready with little effort. She decides to get some answers out of Josiah McGrew by means of picking him up with her Gear.]Georges the GM: “Drop a die if you want to make sure you don’t crush his ribcage in the process.”
Ariel: “Why wouldn’t you want to shatter their ribcage?”
Zac: “A dead person makes a much less compelling hostage.”

[Fennec picks up McGrew, which leads to an immediate shoot-out between the mercs and mine security.]Cletus Benchfield: “You’re all conspiring against me!”
Zac: “That’s probably true.”

[Fennec tries to de-escalate the situation.]Fennec: “Ain’t no reason people need to get themselves full of holes because of this. [beat] More people.”

[One of McGrew’s people shoots McGrew in the head as Fennec holds him.]Fennec: “Wow, you guys have no sense of loyalty – I’m gonna have to stomp some into you.”

[Now that McGrew is dead…]Georges the GM: “Let me see what I can recover of the exposition bits, which have all gone to hell.”
Zac: “Mwahaha! I ruined everything!”

[Meanwhile, Lukas has rendezvoused with the rest of the mercs and their four battle-ready Gears.]Merc Lieutenant: “You’re a big guy – let’s have you drive the Assault Grizzly.”
Lukas: “Come to mamma!”

[Lukas rolls in with the rest of the mercs.]Ariel: “Are you going to attack us?”
Brock: “I haven’t made up my mind yet.”

[Brock has secret plans.]Brock: “It’s gonna be awesome.”
Zac: “Awesome for who?”
Brock: “For me, the only person who matters.”

[More of the same.]Zac: “What team are you on right now?”
Brock: “Team money.”

[Back with Fennec, head of security Megan Farr decides to high-tail it. Sadly, Karima is making that difficult for her.]Karima: *jumps into the car*
Megan Farr: *attempts to shoot Karima*
Megan Farr’s gun: *click*
Karima: “There’s four Gears after us – shouldn’t we work together?”
Zac: “Not, ‘You tried to kill me!’?”

[Lukas isn’t about to let the mercs have all the fun, of course.]Lukas: *blows up 3 of the merc Gears by means of remote-activating the grenades on their belts, then rolls 8 on his bluff check* “Oh, my God! What happened?!”

[After destroying three Gears, Lukas uses his incendiary rocks to destroy two trucks.]Zac: “This is why Lukas does what he does: even when you’re rich, there are some things money can’t buy.”

[Fennec et al can hear massive amounts of gunfire and see the forest starting to catch fire.]Brock: “I love how there’s no concern for Lukas.”
Zac: “I’ve worked with him long enough that I know all that destruction is his handiwork.”

[More of the same.]Fennec: “I got wind that something bad was comin’, and judging by the flames back there…”
Julie: “It came.”

[Having blowing up three gears and two trucks, it’s time for Lukas to start the mop-up.]Georges the GM: “You’ve got a dozen infantry who were supposed to be your support.”
Brock: “Incendiary rocket!”
Georges the GM: “They’ve hunkered down. They have a lot of cover.”
Brock: “They’re gonna need it.”

[Now that Lukas has effectively lit up the forest…]Georges the GM: “I guess they’re gonna have to rename Shady Pines.”
Zac: “’Smoking Pines’?”

[Meanwhile, Fennec is interrogating Archibald Benchfield and trying to figure out what the ‘treasure’ is that all the mercs seem to want.]Archibald Benchfield: “You ever heard of a learning neural net?”
Ariel: “We had a whole story arc about them.”

[The Benchfields were, indeed, working with the Comptroller.]Georges the GM: “I wonder if I had a first name for Gorash.”
Ariel: “’Lieutenant.’”

[Having taken out all the mercs, Lukas finally arrives at Fennec’s location.]Lukas: “So, what do we have here, Fennec?”
Zac: “Wait. Why would I tell you?”

[Fennec ‘asks’ Archibald to come with her.]Archibald Benchfield: “Who are you working for?”
Fennec: “I represent interested parties and that’s all you need to know.”
Brock (as Fennec): “Because I’m in a Gear and you’re not.”

[Fennec takes Archibald into custody. Little does she know that while she was busy doing her interrogation, Lukas has taken McGrew’s datapad.]Zac: “My goal is, for a change, to walk out with more intel than Lukas.”
Georges the GM: “As far as you know, that’s what’s happening.”

[In the aftermath…]Zac: “The Humanist arson squad have a few questions for you.”
Brock: “I have answers for them.”